tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post7983210085442816259..comments2024-03-28T07:58:41.643-04:00Comments on pancocojams: The Black Origins Of The Song "Pay Me My Money Down" Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-58889752566704443602014-10-17T08:42:36.815-04:002014-10-17T08:42:36.815-04:00Thanks for that information slam2011.
I think th...Thanks for that information slam2011. <br /><br />I think that Black dockers and shantymen who sung that song meant "pay the entire sum [you owe to me] immediately."<br /><br />Nowadays in American English "paying money down" is probably given as "putting money down" - paying a specified amount of the total purchase price for a product or service that you would continually pay in installments until the full amoung was paid. We call that putting a product "on layaway". That's obviously not what that "Pay Me My Money Down" song is about.<br /><br />Also, I think it's important to note that given the realities of race in the United States during slavery or even in the 1940s, it's highly that any White person would have gone to jail for failing to pay someone who was Black. For that reason I doubt that the version of that song which was sung in the 19th century had that "or go to jail" line.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-29256145605836134102014-10-17T06:36:31.312-04:002014-10-17T06:36:31.312-04:00I've been looking at early usage of the expres...I've been looking at early usage of the expression 'pay the money down'. In 1827 it's used to mean 'pay the entire sum immediately': but by the 1850s it usually means 'make payment in advance'. <br /><br />Not surprising, really :)slam2011https://www.blogger.com/profile/03112153426493772446noreply@blogger.com